I recently ordered some painted figures from an eBay seller, and they sent them to me once I had returned from our recent cruise. The seller made sure that everything was securely packed in bubble wrap and cardboard and placed into two substantial cardboard boxes that were taped together with loads of white parcel tape marked with the word ‘Fragile’ in red letters. They then passed it over into the care of the Royal Mail.
That is where things seem to have gone wrong.
I have no idea what they did to the parcel before they delivered it, but it looked as if the word ‘Fragile’ was not just ignored but acted as a trigger for them to treat the parcel with little care. When it was delivered, the corners of the parcel looked crushed and there was an ominous rattle when one picked it up. When it was opened, most of the packaging had burst open, and I would estimate that between 30% and 40% of the figures - which had been based in threes on plastic bases - were loose and quite a few were damaged.
This should not have happened … but it did. The seller did everything to ensure that the parcel and its contents were properly packaged, but the Royal Mail seems to have failed to do its duty to deliver the parcel in the condition in which it was given to them.
Is there any possible redress? Well, I could ask the seller to pursue the matter as the Royal Mail insists that it is only the person who posts an item who can initiate a trace … but that seems to me to be rather an imposition on a seller who sold me these figures at a very reasonable price. Furthermore, the compensation would be negligible.
I’ve decided to see if I can make the best of the situation and repair those figures that are repairable. Hopefully there will then be enough of them to form the basis on a further Belle Époque army.
BOB,
ReplyDeleteOn Royal Mail. I've been waiting 32 days for my order from the UK to arrive- nothing delivered yet. I've lost all interest in the ordered figures and will sell them. All the best. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteI can fully understand your frustration. When I've posted things to Australia and New Zealand, the time taken to deliver what I have posted has varied from days to many weeks ... and there is no apparent reason why there have been such large variations.
I have tended to use couriers of late, mainly because they deliver much quicker ... and are not usually that much more expensive.
All the best,
Bob
That's a real heartbreaker given the effort made by the seller. I find for the most part the Royal Post gets it right for my things leaving the UK. Now the USPS is another thing all together. Often my packages like to visit different parts of the country for no apparent reason. I live in one of the largest metro areas so it's not like they can't locate me.
ReplyDeleteHopefully this is a one time problem and you can salvage most of the figures.
WEK 3,
DeleteLuckily, such incidents are rare enough to warrant mentioning in a blog post.
I’ve heard that the USPS is actually worse than the Royal Mail … and that’s saying something! I live in London and one of our problems is lack of postal workers to actually deliver the mail. Our local postal delivery office is so short of staff that it often only delivers three times per week.
All the best,
Bob
USPS varies a lot by region. It's also being undermined by the Fed. Sadly, I live in the worst area of the US for USPS service. I have had packages arrive at the local hub, a few minutes drive away, to for no apparent reason get shipped off to the coasts before returning days later.
DeleteWEK 3,
DeleteThe USPS sounds pretty awful. Mind you, your experience of items arriving at the local hub and then going elsewhere before it was delivered is something that we have experienced with one UK courier company.
Recently, a parcel from a seller in west London went to the courier's depot near Heathrow Airport (which is also to the west of London) ... and then it went to their distribution centre in Birmingham before returning to Heathrow for delivery to their distribution hub in southeast London.
All the best,
Bob
Bob, if I was your seller, I would want you to contact me so that I could complain to Royal Mail and, perhaps, obtain some compensation for you as a matter of principle. It's important that the failings of the system are brought to the new owner's attention so that he cannot pretend RM is functioning properly, as he has tried to do when questioned by a Parliamentary committee.
ReplyDeleteArthur1815 (Arthur),
DeleteI have told the seller what happened and I’m waiting for him to get back to me.
My experience of making a complaint about Royal Mail service - the non-delivery of some documents - is not very positive. I had to fill in a detailed form, submit it to the local sorting office, and then wait. Months later they finally got back to me … and admitted that they had no idea where my documents were! Luckily, they were copies and not originals and because they had no monetary value, there was no compensation.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether such a procedure would have any effect upon a state sector(?) organisation, but I'll tell this little story anyway.
Many, many tears ago, my brother travelling with his wife around Northland stayed at some sort of hostelry, a nationwide franchise, that for the sake of this narrative I will call 'Travel Inn'. These 'Travel Inn' places were scattered throughout the country.
At any rate, Jon was impressed by the service only by its poor quality - enough to want to complain about it, AND to do what these days would be the 1-star (or nil-star) thing. Getting no satisfaction, upon arriving home, he placed a notice or advertisement in the local paper.
"I stayed at a 'Travel Inn'. I am a dissatisfied customer. For further details contact..."
He tells me the first response he got was from 'Travel Inn'.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI suppose the modern equivalent would be to write a negative review on one of the popular sites such as TripAdvisor or - as I have done in the past with Thames Water - write a negative Facebook and/or X post. Large organisations usually have media people who look for this sort of thing and they will often react positively to deal with the problem.
The problem with Royal Mail is that they seem to have an embedded ‘we can do nothing wrong’ attitude that dates back to the days when it formed part of the Post Office … and as the recent scandal has shown, even today that attitude seems to prevail in spite of the evidence that shows just how wrong they have been to think and behave that way.
All the best,
Bob
Awful business, do attempt to get compensation if only to remind them of their duty. I lament the way that the PO of my youth is sadly gone. It was a sacred trust to deliver the mail once. Couriers are unreliable too. All vexing.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Tradgardmastare (Alan),
DeleteI will certainly ask the sender to seek some sort of compensation, although I don’t hold out great hopes that we will get it.
Today’s Royal Mail is a shadow of its former self, and far more interested in the small parcel/package side of the business than delivering simple letters etc.
I rely on regular deliveries of medical supplies for my stoma, and they come via DPD as regular as clockwork. They send me a text the day before they make a delivery and have always delivered during the specified two-hour window.
All the best,
Bob
I got some North Star spears sent to me - they arrived with an apology document. They were eaten by one of their machines. Because of the apology I raised a claim and 28 days later I got compensation in the form of first class stamps to the tune of 15 quid - the maximum they will pay as it was not parcel force etc. the rule is missing undelivered post is the sender’s responsibility and actually my sender offered to claim for the damage because they could show on the complaint upload photos of secure product before sending which it seems they routinely do.
ReplyDeleteNorber,
DeleteIt sounds as if the tracking and compensation system worked for you … which is very encouraging to read. Hopefully we will be as successful, although I somehow suspect that we won’t be. Lack of supporting evidence will probably be our downfall, but if we don’t try, we won’t know.
All the best,
Bob
Hmm, not the first butchered box of toy soldiers over there!
ReplyDeleteRoss Mac,
DeleteVery true. They managed to do a lot of damage to the contents of the package you sent me, and at the time I had hoped that had been a one-off ... but this proves that it isn't that unusual.
All the best,
Bob